EVGA Has A New Z170 Motherboard, But It’s Classified

EVGA released a new motherboard that will slide in between its Z170 Classified and Z170 FTW boards.

The EVGA Z170 Classified K is similar to its existing motherboards in several ways. Like the Z170 Classified, the Classified K features an improved power design with two International Rectifier IR35201 6+2 digital PWM chips connected to several power phases, which are cooled by large VRM heatsinks and a metal heat pipe.

The Classified K actually improves over the Z170 Classified in terms of storage connections. It gains an additional M.2 Key M relative to the Z170 Classified. Thanks to a Marvell 88SE9235 SATA controller that connects to the PCH via two PCI-E lanes and provides up to four SATA-III (6 Gbps) ports, the Classified K also has an additional two SATA connections.Classified K (Front) Z170 Classified (Rear)

As the Z170 Classified K is set as a lower-end motherboard and has a few extra connections that the Z170 Classified lacks, EVGA did have to cut back in a few areas. The cooling isn’t quite as well developed as the Z170 Classified, and the Z170 Classified also has a better audio configuration. The Z170 Classified uses higher-end Creative Sound Core3D with a quad-core DSP connected to a pair of specialized capacitors common on high-end audio products, whereas the Classified K relies on a Realtek ALC1150 chipset with lower-end capacitors.

Another area that the Classified K falls behind the Z170 Classified a little is its NICs. The Z170 Classified relied on Intel i219 and i210 Gigabit NICs, whereas the Classified K swaps the i210 for a Killer E2400 NIC.